Benjamin Day and the development of printing technology

¶ … nineteenth century, Benjamin Henry Day learned the printer's trade in the office of the Springfield republican and later opened a printing office in the city of New York. In 1833, circumstances compelled him to publish his very first copy of The New York Sun and thus introduced the penny press to the residents of the United States. The first edition of this newspaper comprised of four mere pages and the copy was sold for 1c, a price that was far too less compared to the other New York dailies. With the origination of this newspaper came many new changes such as the employment of newsboys. By the year 1835, Sun claimed to have sold 19,360 news copies, the largest in the world. In 1838, Benjamin Henry Day sold the newspaper to his brother in law for $40,000 and later founded the monthly Brother Jonathan, which later became the first weekly newspaper in the history of the United States of America.

Benjamin Day, who was named after his father Benjamin Henry Day "invented a process, utilizing celluloid sheets, for shading plates in the color printing of maps and illustrations" (Benjamin Day, The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). This process later came to be known as Ben Day or Benday process. Hence, both father and son played a colossal role in inventing mass media.

Benjamin Day after being unsatisfied with the subscription sales sent newsboys out to hawk papers. The best part about this newspaper was that it provided news or media to the mass at large and at an affordable price of 1c rather than the standard 6c. The newspaper comprised details pertaining to crime, violence, local happenings, politics and trade. It was Benjamin Day who gave rise to the period of sensationalize journalism since the newspaper was aimed for every common man. Unlike any other newspaper at that time, Sun's motive was human interest.

Characteristics of Sun's reporting were as follows,

Little concern for truth

Hoaxes prevalent

Got the attention of advertisers

More news and fewer editorials

Better equipment, because Moses Beach, Day's brother in law, bought the most advanced equipment (Penny Press).

The most profound attribute about this newspaper was that it published news for people having all kinds of taste and status i.e. from the elite to the common reader. "We've seen it! What! Why that mermaid! The mischief you have! Where? What is it? It's twin sister to the deucedest looking thing imaginable -half fish, half flesh; and taken by and large, the most odd of all oddities earth or sea has ever produced" (Penny Press, New York Sun).

Before The New York Sun, no other newspaper had managed to gain so much of popularity among the people. After being influenced by this newspaper, other newspapers and magazines started to play a greater role when they published stories and articles directed at readers whom newspapers overlooked. Later, a new breed of power daily newspapers appeared.

Ethnic newspapers thrived as well; many newcomers found more newspapers printed in their language in the United States than in their homeland. At the turn of the century, for example, there were six Yiddish dailies in New York City. African-

Americans founded some forty papers before 1865 and responded to the end of slavery by starting more than one thousand by 1900 Overall, the United States began the twentieth century with more varied sources of news in print than it had ever had or would have again. The number of daily newspapers alone peaked by 1910 at about twenty-six hundred (Magazines And Newspapers).

Benjamin Day even during that time made use of great marketing strategy for the distribution of his paper i.e. It was much more sophisticated and a better looking product. The Sun created a whole range of reader, expanded the newspaper reading audience, caused a great societal modification and provided more direct and sensational reading. Benjamin Day's newspaper aimed at the following,

Common man should have a realistic view of the contemporary scene.

Abuses in churches, courts banks, stock markets, etc. should be exposed.

Newspaper's 1st duty is to give readers the news, not support a party or class.

Local and human interest news of primary importance (Penny Press).

The New York Sun with its good qualities also had some bad qualities, such as bad taste, denseness sometimes moving towards indecency, overemphasis on crime, violence and sex and contemptible advertising. Ever since Benjamin Day modulated the U.S. newspaper industry in 1833 by essentially innovating the widely popular penny press in the form of The New York Sun, covering not only the classes but the masses as well at a charge which almost everyone could afford, the stellar furnace where the Sun was tamped has been the most intensely antagonistic media market in the country. "When Benjamin Day founded the New York Sun in 1831 he declared his independence from any political party and vowed that "whenever the villainous conduct of a man, or a body of men... may deserve exposure - so sure will we lash the rascals naked through the world. Some of the press has followed this policy ever since" (The Day Family In The New World).

Another great personality that added a new name to the business of newspaper and media was James Gordon Bennett, the founder of New York Herald. Before, influential newspapers including the New York Sun refused to hire him. With $500, he began the New York Morning Herald. Compared to Benjamin Day, James Gordon Bennett also took his job very seriously. He not only studied but also lectured and taught economics. He not only added spice but also venture and aggression to the field. He was basically a reporter and a publisher for his newspaper not a printer. "Bennett's New York Herald, begun in 1835, had sales of 77,000 on the eve of the Civil War, the largest daily circulation in the world. Bennett, a cantankerous Democrat, published news for every taste" (Magazines And Newspapers). The New York Herald like the New York Sun gained a lot of popularity and a lot of repute. The Herald added, "excellent crime coverage, special edition, best financial page, more serious material, letters columns, sports news, in depth religious reporting, a society" (Penny Press).